The world of manufacturing
is about to undergo a seismic shift. According to some, we are experiencing a
fourth industrial revolution that will transform the way things are made. And
the impact on workers will be huge.

ok
...What is INDUSTRY 4.0 ?

It is a collective term
embracing a number of contemporary automation, data exchange and
manufacturing technologies.

It had been defined as 'a
collective term for technologies and concepts of value chain organization'
which draws togetherCyber-Physical
Systems, the Internet
of Things and the Internet
of Services

Going
deeper into concept ?

Industry 4.0 facilitates the
vision and execution of a "Smart Factory". Within the modular
structured Smart Factories of Industry 4.0, cyber-physical systems monitor
physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make
decentralized decisions.

Over the Internet of Things,
cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with
humans in real time.

Via the Internet of Services,
both internal and cross-organizational services are offered and utilized
by participants of the value chain.

Origin
of the concept ?

The term "Industrie
4.0" originates from a project in the high-tech strategy of the German
government, which promotes the computerization of manufacturing.

The term was first used in
2011 at the Hannover Fair.

So how
it EVOLVED ?

The first industrial revolution
from the end of the 18th century saw the birth of manufacturing using
machines powered by water and steam.

The second came at the beginning
of the 20th century, when mass production lines were powered by electric
energy.

The third came with the change
from analogue and mechanical production to electronic and digital
technology from the 1970s onwards.

‘Industry 4.0’ was the theme this
year at the annual meeting of business and government leaders in Davos
(World Economic Forum !! ).

Both the United Nations
Development Programme and the World Bank, in their annual global
development reports, have focused on the impact that automation, in both
manufacturing and services, is likely to have on jobs.

Meanwhile, the International
Labour Organization (ILO) is completing its flagship project to understand
what technology is doing to the ‘future of work’.

Key
issues in the 2016 World Economic Forum deliberated include:

How the Fourth
Industrial Revolution will transform the healthcare sector, financial
services, mobile communications, education and many other industries.

How mankind can
leverage technology in ways to promote growth for the poor as well as the
rich.

How breakthroughs
in science and technology help solve international public health crises
and complex global issues like climate change.

How public- and
private-sector leaders can better prepare their communities and
constituencies for our rapidly changing global security and geopolitical
landscape.

What does the
latest global security picture truly look like in 2016 and beyond? And how
can new technologies keep people safe from cyber attacks?

How government's
role in this complex, fast-moving world should be redefined to promote
transparency in economic, social and environmental reform.

Some
ARGUE that INDUSTRY 4.0 will be a JOB KILLER !!

Oxfam has released a report
pointing out that, with a global trend towards increasing inequality since
the 1980s, now only 62 people own as much wealth as the poorer half of the
human population.

Inequality, technology and the
need for jobs are three potent forces that are combining to shape
economies and societies.

Industry 4.0 is creating new forms
of enterprises. It will require different patterns of skills. It will
create further tensions between owners of capital (and with it, technology
and machines) and workers.

A study released
WEF see as many as 7.1 million jobs being lost in 15 developed and
emerging economies, mostly in white-collar office and administrative jobs,
while 2.1 million jobs will be created in computer engineering and
mathematics.

Women will be in
the firing line of the changes, one of the reasons being that they are
underrepresented in the technical fields where new positions are to be
created.

ISSUES
kya bante dikh rahe hai INDUSTRY 4.0 model me ?

A scenario in which all work will be
automated, which some proponents of Industry 4.0 envisage, is incomplete—and
may not be possible. It does not explain

Who will pay for the products and
services that will be produced by robots and other machines.

What will people be doing?

How will they get incomes to pay
for products and services?

If they cannot pay, who will
pay?

If people are out of work, how
will their basic needs be provided for?

Optimists
kya kehte hai ?

Some dismiss those who worry about
the impact of new technologies on jobs as Luddites.

These persons remind others that
ultimately the technologies feared by Luddites turned out to be beneficial
overall.

So will Industry 4.0, they assert.
However, transitions are disruptive, and it is the pain of transitions
that governments are expected to relieve.

In
this scenario the question is what strategies should governments follow to
enable a smoother transition, in which more jobs are produced and inequalities
are reduced while technologies are adopted?

INDIA ka case lete hai ..since we are doing
UPSC ....!!

It is not clear so far whether
Make in India, Skill India and Start-Up India—the government’s flagship
programmes—have factored in these challenges.

The conceptual architecture of
these programmes is some years old. It is based on models of previous
successes—of industrialization in China, skill development in Germany,
start-ups in the US. Even those countries are waking up to new challenges
of technology, inequality and jobs.

India will have to develop its own
scenarios. Different conditions in different societies will cause the forces to
play out in different ways. Therefore, a global scenario will not be sharp
enough to guide any country’s actions.

Moral
of the Story !!

Action is required urgently. The prime
minister Narendra Modiji is leading the way. However, actions must produce the
right outcomes. Scenarios will enable the country’s leaders to put their
policies through a wind-tunnel, to test their efficacy in the globally
turbulent conditions through which India’s aspirations must fly.